The popular governor has long said he would support the Republican senators who voted for legalization. Although most of the Senate’s Republican majority opposed it, Saland and three others voted for the measure, risking their careers in what they said were personal votes of conscience.

In September, Saland won a narrow victory in the first Republican primary of his career in the Poughkeepsie-area district.

He still faces Democrat Terry Gibson and Conservative Neil Di Carlo in a difficult race. Di Carlo lost that Republican primary to Saland.